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TO VET: To check someone out thoroughly to see if they should be accepted for a job.

Southern NH Home Sellers, do you vet your listing agent before hiring them?

Do you check to see what their marketing pictures look like? Marketing pictures are increasingly important as more and more buyer agents seem to depend on their buyer clients to "find" the homes they wish to view on-line. So, if the pictures of your home are not sharp, clear and inviting, fewer people will view your home.

Does the front of your home look like this?

Or like this?

Hint: Ditch the snow pictures once the local temperatures hit 90. BTW, the sum total of marketing pictures for this listing were 5 similar exterior pictures. That's it. Wonder why it hasn't sold?

Does the living room of your smaller home look like this?

Or like this?

Doesn't this picture make you want to run out and look at this property?

Does your kitchen look like this?

Or like this?

Not sure why the picture was taken from this angle and I have no idea why an agent would allow a picture this dark and blurry to be uploaded. As an aside, the kitchen in the 1st photo is in a relatively modest home listed at $299,900. The photo above is from a home listed at over $500,000.

Okay, just a few more because I just have to...

This agent not only can't take a picture but, as an added bonus, apparently can't spell or proof read:

I don't know what a "garage man door" is but this house has one. It also has "maniqured open space" but I thought I'd spare you the picture. These last two photos are also from homes that are listed at over $500,000.

One more, can't resist! This home is on the market for over half a million.

There are so many things wrong with this picture, beginning with lack of staging and ending with the cameo shot of the homeowner, I don't even know where to begin.

These photos are all of homes currently for sale with real estate agents.

The bottom line is you might want to ask the agent you are considering listing with to provide you with some recent examples of their marketing photos. (If you've already listed without vetting the agent, you might want to check on their marketing pictures of your home if for no reason other than to make sure you're not in them!)

The other VERY IMPORTANT item you should be asking for is a list (directly from MLS) of their transactions over the last year. No matter how good a game they talk, if they don't actually succeed in selling homes, they are of no use to you.

Case in point, I had an experience a while ago where a homeowner I had spoken to decided to list with another agent who was deemed to be "more suited to listing their home". I suspect it had more to do with the fact that the agent was willing to list their property for $45,000 more than I could justify, but we'll go with "more suited". At any rate, being the inquisitive type, I decided to look up the production of this powerhouse. Here is the report on their New Hampshire Production:

Yup, one whole transaction in the last 12 months.

Being the fair minded individual that I am I decided to look into their production in Massachusetts also since the individual in question is actually associated with an office in that State. Here is the report on their Massachusetts Production:

Yup, another whole transaction in the last 12 months.

As a seller, wouldn't you want to know this? In New Hampshire and Massachusetts' MLS, agents have the ability to print out a report of their closed transactions for any period of time they desire so there is no reason they can't provide you with this. A WORD OF CAUTION: Do NOT Go With Zillow's Recent Sales numbers attached to an Agent's Profile. I don't know where they get the numbers but they do not jibe with the real agent production numbers. They are as wildly inaccurate (in either direction) as their Zestimates.

Southern New Hampshire Sellers, do yourself a favor, start asking for these items.

If you'd like help selling your Southern New Hampshire property, you can contact me at 603-490-5344 and I will provide you with examples of my marketing and reports regarding my production